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A new horror movie we're really looking forward to next year is Until Dawn. It's a live-action feature adaptation of the popular 2015 video game of the same name, and it's slated to come out in spring 2025. In fact, Sony's Screen Gems has just set an official theatrical release date for April 25, 2025, so make sure to save the date.

David F. Sandberg directed the Until Dawn movie from a screenplay written by Gary Dauberman. Blair Butler wrote the film's previous draft. Sandberg is best known for directing the hit supernatural horror film Lights Out. He's also known for helming the horror flick Annabelle: Creation and the superhero films Shazam! and Shazam! Fury of the Gods.

Dauberman, on the other hand, previously worked together with Sandberg on Annabelle: Creation. He wrote the screenplay for that film. He also wrote the scripts for the horror movies Annabelle, The Nun and Annabelle Comes Home.

Supermassive’s hit video game Until Dawn is headed to the big screen with a horror movie adaptation from director David F. Sandberg (Lights Out, Annabelle Creation, Shazam), and Sony’s Screen Gems has announced the recently wrapped movie’s official release date tonight.

Until Dawn will be unleashed in theaters on April 25, 2025.

Ella Rubin (The Idea of You), Michael Cimino (“Never Have I Ever”), Ji-young Yoo (“Expats”) and Odessa A’zion (Hulu’s Hellraiser) will star in the upcoming horror film.

Peter Stormare (Clown, John Wick 2) will be reprising his role from the Until Dawn video game, while Maia Mitchell and Belmont Cameli will also appear in the movie.

Blair Butler (The Invitation) wrote the original draft, and Gary Dauberman (Salem’s Lot) worked on the script. The film is said to be “an R-rated love letter to the horror genre.”

Until Dawn centers around a group of eight teenagers...

David F. Sandberg announced that his feature film adaptation of the Until Dawn video game had wrapped production, and now Sony Pictures has given the project a release date. Until Dawn will hit theaters on April 25, 2025, which will place it in direct competition with The Accountant 2, which is slated to open on the same day.

The original Until Dawn video game was released on PlayStation 4 in 2015. It finds the players taking control of eight young adults who must survive on Blackwood Mountain until they are rescued. The game features a butterfly effect system in which players must make choices that may change the story. Depending on the choices made, all the playable characters have the chance to survive or die.

The movie stars Ella Rubin (The Idea of You), Michael Cimino, Ji-young Yoo (Expats), Belmont Cameli (Saved by the Bell), Odessa A’zion (Hellraiser), and Maia Mitchell (The Artful Dodger). Peter Stormare also appears,...

Sony Pictures’ forthcoming feature adaptation of the video game Until Dawn is set to invade theaters next year.

Director David F. Sandberg’s movie hits theaters April 25, 2025, putting it up against Amazon MGM Studios’ The Accountant 2, which also opens that date.

Horror mainstay Gary Dauberman, known for the It movies, wrote the latest version of the screenplay for Screen Gems after Blair Butler penned the script’s previous draft.

Until Dawn is an R-rated ensemble film that is set to pay homage to the horror genre. The cast includes Ella Rubin, Michael Cimino, Ji-young Yoo, Belmont Cameli, Odessa A’zion, Maia Mitchell and Peter Stormare.

PlayStation released Until Dawn in 2015, with the horror game following eight friends and frenemies brought together at a remote mountain retreat. There, they must face a mysterious killer and more as they try to survive the night.

Dauberman, Mia Maniscalco, Sandberg, Lotta Losten, Roy Lee,...

The film adaptation of the horror video game “Until Dawn” will be released on April 25, 2025, Sony Pictures announced Tuesday.

The film is directed by “Shazam!” director David F. Sandberg.

The anticipated project stars Ella Rubin, Michael Cimino, Ji-young Yoo, Belmont Cameli, Odessa A’zion, Maia Mitchell and Peter Stormare. Inspired by the game, the film is an R-rated and terrifying love letter to the horror genre, centering on an ensemble cast.

Released in 2015 and featuring a voice cast led by Rami Malek and Hayden Panettiere, “Until Dawn” is a horror game in which players take control of eight different people who are stuck in a mountain forest and attacked by bloodthirsty creatures. The decisions made by the player determine how many of the eight characters survive until they are rescued at dawn, and the game’s autosave feature prevents the player from going back and changing their decisions.

The project marks...

Sony’s Screen Gems is releasing the feature take of its Sony Playstation game Until Dawn on April 25, 2025.

David F. Sandberg directs off a recent draft by Gary Dauberman. Blair Butler wrote the previous draft. The pic stars The film stars Ella Rubin, Michael Cimino, Ji-young Yoo, Belmont Cameli, Odessa A’zion, Maia Mitchell and Peter Stormare.

Until Dawn is a 2015 interactive drama horror game from Supermassive Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Players take control of eight young adults who have to survive on Blackwood Mountain when their lives are threatened. The game features a butterfly effect system in which players must make choices that may change the story. All playable characters can survive or die, depending on the choices made. Players explore the environment from a third-person Pov and discover clues that help solve the mystery.

The movie is produced by Dauberman, Mia Maniscalco, Sandberg, Lotta Losten, Roy Lee,...

Set in early 2000s California, So Young Shelly Yo’s debut feature Smoking Tigers follows a Korean-American teenager navigating complex questions of identity. Hayoung is a 16-year-old growing up in LA, caught between the modest life with her family and the affluent world of her wealthy friends. As her parents’ marriage fractures, Hayoung feels pressure from all sides—to succeed academically, conform to expectations, and find where she truly fits in.

Yo crafts an intimate coming-of-age tale inspired by her own experiences. With subtlety and care, she explores Hayoung’s quiet struggles and the tensions many children of immigrants face. Trying to honor her heritage while embracing American culture leads Hayoung to seek answers in unexpected places. Through it all, she remains determined to understand herself and her family on her own terms.

Masterful performances and Yo’s thoughtful direction immerse us in Hayoung’s journey. Her thoughtful observations and...

Earlier this year, we learned that Lights Out and Annabelle: Creation director David F. Sandberg is re-teaming with Annabelle: Creation screenwriter Gary Dauberman for a movie based on the horror video game Until Dawn. Production began in August, and now Sandberg and his wife / frequent collaborator Lotta Losten have both taken to Instagram to announce that filming on the video game movie has wrapped!

As The Hollywood Reporter previously noted, first released in 2015, Until Dawn is an interactive horror video game that follows eight friends and frenemies who are brought together a remote mountain retreat. With live or die scenarios featuring a mysterious killer, cannibalistic wendigos, a cable car, and a long-ago mining cave-in that reverberates into the present day, the members of the group must fight through their fear if they all hope to make it through the night in one piece. The game proved to be a...

In the wake of the remake’s release, Supermassive’s hit video game Until Dawn is headed to the big screen with a horror movie adaptation from director David F. Sandberg (Lights Out, Annabelle Creation, Shazam), and we’ve learned that filming wrapped over the weekend.

“We made it until dawn!” Sandberg posted on Instagram. “That’s a wrap on #UntilDawnMovie.”

You can check out Sandberg’s Instagram update below.

Ella Rubin (The Idea of You), Michael Cimino (“Never Have I Ever”), Ji-young Yoo (“Expats”) and Odessa A’zion (Hulu’s Hellraiser) will star in the upcoming horror film.

Peter Stormare (Clown, John Wick 2) will be reprising his role from the Until Dawn video game, while Maia Mitchell and Belmont Cameli will also appear in the movie.

Blair Butler (The Invitation) wrote the original draft, and Gary Dauberman (Salem’s Lot) worked on the script. The film is said to...

The movie based on the popular horror game Until Dawn has completed principal photography. Director David F. Sandberg shared a post on social media after wrapping up main filming for the movie. Sandberg is known for directing scary movies like Annabelle: Creation.

The Until Dawn movie is being made by Sony Pictures. It has been in development since 2015, when the interactive game first came out. In the game, a group of young people get trapped in a remote mountain lodge. They have to try escaping while being hunted by a mysterious killer. Players could make choices that impacted what happened in the story. This gave fans control over how gory their experience became.

Sandberg’s post on Instagram showed a clapperboard stained with fake blood. The director’s reflection in a mirror covered in fake gore could also be seen. This suggests the film will have the same frightening tone as the game.

Is Jack Huston about to give Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky a run for its money? What is this blasphemy upon which I speak? I’m talking about Jack Huston’s Day of the Fight, an upcoming underdog film packing a lot of heart that Falling Forward Films recently picked up for distribution. Today’s Day of the Fight trailer introduces Jack Huston’s directorial debut and what looks like a powerhouse performance from Michael Pitt.

Today’s Day of the Fight trailer presents Huston’s black-and-white indie film about a once-renowned boxer on a redemptive journey through his past and present. The film chronicles the boxer’s arc from his first fight to his release from prison and beyond. Judges are already eyeing Day of the Fight for awards consideration. Joining Michael Pitt in the film are Nicolette Robinson, Ron Perlman, John Magaro, Anatol Yuse, and Steve Buscemi as primary cast members.

Back when tigers used to smoke, starry-eyed dreamers imagined tantalizing futures that seemed so within reach — until cold harsh truth reared its ugly head. So it goes in So Young Shelly Yo's debut feature, “Smoking Tigers,” an incisive excerpt of 2000s Korean-American life in Southern California. Here, sixteen-year old Hayoung (Ji-young Yoo) has to juggle her family and social life in one fateful summer. Between her parents' failing marriage, new cram school friends, and her own yearning for a stable home, she becomes entangled in an network of lies that becomes increasingly difficult to extricate herself from.

We had the opportunity to speak with So Young Shelly Yo over Zoom, on the occasion of “Smoking Tigers”' North American theatrical premiere. Over the course of the conversation, we spoke about filming bilingually, working on a first feature, and the gamble that is the American Dream.

This interview has been edited and redacted for clarity.

We're getting so close to trekking back to the dark and ominous atmosphere of Blackwood Mountain with the upcoming Until Dawn remaster launching this October. PlayStation has released a new trailer that compares the original 2015 game with the remaster, which was completely rebuilt from the ground up in Unreal Engine 5.

Almost 10 years after Supermassive Games released the original Until Dawn and helped define the genre of cinematic, narrative-focused horror games, the remaster will include many updates, including character models, visual effects, interactable props, and more.

Additional features include:

More accessibility and usability settingsNew collectibles! All of the original totems have been relocated to encourage player exploration and there is also a new totem and other small new interactions and extra content included in the remaster.Texture improvementsA reworked prologue that improves pacing and adds some screentime for Hannah and Josh Washington along with reframing scenes around the prank that kicks...

Earlier this year, we learned that Lights Out and Annabelle: Creation director David F. Sandberg is re-teaming with Annabelle: Creation screenwriter Gary Dauberman for a movie based on the horror video game Until Dawn – and now The Hollywood Reporter has broken the news that the great character actor Peter Stormare has joined the cast of the film to reprise the role he played in the video game, therapist Dr. Hill! Which makes sense, because if you’ve already had Stormare play a character, why replace him with someone else?

Stormare joins previously announced cast members Ella Rubin of The Idea of You and the upcoming Fear Street: Prom Queen, Odessa A’zion of the recent Hellraiser reboot and the sitcom Fam, Michael Cimino of Love, Victor and Annabelle Comes Home, and Ji-young Yoo of Expats and Smoking Tigers. His fellow new additions are Belmont Cameli of Along for the Ride...

Supermassive’s hit video game Until Dawn is headed to the big screen with a horror movie adaptation from director David F. Sandberg (Lights Out, Annabelle Creation, Shazam), and The Hollywood Reporter brings us the latest casting news this week. For starters, Peter Stormare will be reprising his role from the Until Dawn video game!

THR notes, “Insiders say that in a callback to the game, Stormare is reprising his role of therapist Dr. Hill.” Additionally, Maia Mitchell and Belmont Cameli have signed on.

Ella Rubin (The Idea of You), Michael Cimino (“Never Have I Ever”), Ji-young Yoo (“Expats”) and Odessa A’zion (Hulu’s Hellraiser) will star in the upcoming horror film.

Blair Butler (The Invitation) wrote the original draft, and Gary Dauberman (Salem’s Lot) is now working on the script. The film is said to be “an R-rated love letter to the horror genre.”

Until Dawn centers around...

Upcoming horror film adaptation Until Dawn has added a memorable face from the videogame on which it’s based: one Peter Stormare.

It’s been around six months since we learned that Sony is developing a film version of Until Dawn, the 2015 ‘cabin in the woods’-style horror game that impressed players with its branching narrative paths and cinematic visuals. Screen Gems is co-producing with PlayStation Productions and Shazam! helmer David F Sandberg is on board to direct. Gary Dauberman, the screenwriter behind such horror mainstays as It, Annabelle and The Nun has written the script and Screen Gems has described it as an ‘R-rated love letter to the horror genre, focusing on an ensemble cast.’

The videogame cast featured plenty of up and coming stars who would go on to do great things: Oscar-winning actor Rami Malek appeared, as did Scream 6′s Hayden Panettiere and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Brett Dalton,...

Maia Mitchell, Belmont Cameli and Peter Stormare have joined the cast of Until Dawn, Sony’s Screen Gems and PlayStation Productions’ feature adaptation of the hit horror video game.

Mitchell, Cameli and Stormare join Ella Rubin, Michael Cimino, Ji-young Yoo and Odessa A’zion on the call sheet for the production, which begins shooting in mid-August.

David F. Sandberg, who last directed Shazam! Fury of the Gods, is returning to the horror genre with the project and is reuniting with his Annabelle: Creation writer-producer Gary Dauberman on it.

Dauberman, who has a first-look deal with the studio, wrote the most recent draft of the script and is producing under his Coin Operated banner with Mia Maniscalco, alongside Sandberg and his Mångata partner Lotta Losten. Vertigo Entertainment’s Roy Lee and PlayStation Productions’ Asad Qizilbash and Carter Swan are also producing.

First released in 2015, Until Dawn is an interactive horror video game...

Peter Stormare has joined the cast of Sony's Until Dawn film adaptation, THR reports, and thank Christ for that. We've been watching David F. Sandberg's adaptation of the 2015 horror game hit develop with some mild curiosity for the last year and change, for a couple of different reasons.

"We can't afford to make mistakes like others..." The trailer has debuted for an indie film titled Smoking Tigers, a coming-of-age story about a young woman which is also the feature directorial debut of Korean-American filmmaker So Young Shelly Yo. This premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival last year, and won Best screenplay & Best Performance, before picking up awards at the Denver & Austin Film Festivals as well. Over one summer spent at an elite academic bootcamp, a lonely Korean-American teenager hides her problematic family & lower-income background to fit in with her new wealthy friends, only to discover the bittersweet pains of adulthood. The film is "about traversing the demands of being a young, first-generation American grappling with teenage angst while lifting up the family members struggling (and at times flailing) around you." The film stars Ji-Young Yoo, Jung Joon Ho, Abin Andrews, Erin Choi, Erin Yoo, and Phinehas Yoon. It...

Premiering at last year’s Tribeca Festival where it picked up Best Screenplay and Best Performance, Shelly Yo’s directorial debut Smoking Tigers is a nuanced coming-of-age tale starring Ji-young Yoo. Now set for a theatrical release beginning in Los Angeles on August 16, followed by a Max streaming debut on August 23, we’re pleased to exclusively debut the first trailer.

Here’s the synopsis (stylized in all lower case): “set in los angeles in the early 2000s, smoking tigers is a portrait of a lonely korean – american teen named hayoung who is taken under the wings of three wealthy students she meets at an elite academic bootcamp. as she falls deeper into their world, hayoung works harder to hide her insecurities about her problematic family and lower – income background, only to discover the bittersweet pains of adulthood that will forever shape her life.”

Smoking Tigers is an intimate portrait...

Part of what makes “Expats” so potent is that it focuses on three women in Hong Kong grappling with momentous life changes in 2014, a moment when the city was doing exactly the same. None of our core characters are particularly focused on the political protests of the Umbrella Movement; they’ve all got a lot of other, extremely emotional problems occupying their attention and a lot of privilege to insulate them. But “Expats” is able to show us just enough so that we feel the way what’s happening around the characters is part of the air they’re breathing — so, exactly like real life.

“We are all who we are shaped by the times that we’re in,” director Lulu Wang told IndieWire on an episode of the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast. “It’s not a show about politics specifically, but I also don’t think that any character exists in a vacuum.

Horror video game adaptation Until Dawn has announced its first cast members and they’re all rising stars. More on the news below.

In January, we brought you the news that the horror video game Until Dawn was getting its own film adaptation. David F. Sandberg, known for Lights Out and the Shazam! films, was announced as the director.

Now, we can reveal the first bit of casting for Until Dawn. Ella Rubin, Michael Cimino, Ji-young Yoo and Odessa A’zion have been cast in the film, but no details on who they are playing have emerged yet. Deadline was the first to report the news.

“At PlayStation Productions, we are always looking to find creative and authentic ways to adapt our beloved games that our fans will enjoy,” said Asad Qizilbash, Head of PlayStation Productions, Head of Product for PlayStation Studios, Sony Interactive Entertainment. “Alongside Screen Gems, we’ve assembled...

Earlier this year, we learned that Lights Out and Annabelle: Creation director David F. Sandberg is re-teaming with Annabelle: Creation screenwriter Gary Dauberman for a movie based on the horror video game Until Dawn – and now Deadline has revealed the names of the first four cast members! They are Ella Rubin of The Idea of You and the upcoming Fear Street: Prom Queen, Odessa A’zion of the recent Hellraiser reboot and the sitcom Fam, Michael Cimino of Love, Victor and Annabelle Comes Home, and Ji-young Yoo of Expats and Smoking Tigers. Details on the characters they’ll be playing have not been revealed.

As The Hollywood Reporter previously noted, first released in 2015, Until Dawn is an interactive horror video game that follows eight friends and frenemies who are brought together a remote mountain retreat. With live or die scenarios featuring a mysterious killer, cannibalistic wendigos, a cable car, and...

Screen Gems and PlayStation Productions have revealed four key cast members for the upcoming film adaptation of the popular horror game Until Dawn. According to Deadline, the actors cast are Michael Cimino, Odessa A'zion, Ella Rubin, and Ji-young Yoo.

The film version will be directed by Lights Out director David F. Sandberg. Annabelle Comes Home writer Gary Dauberman wrote the latest version of the script, with Blair Butler (Hell Fest) working on a previous draft.

Michael Cimino is best known for starring in Hulu's Love, Simon spinoff series Love, Victor, in addition to appearing in Never Have I Ever and Annabelle Comes Home. A'zion is probably best known for starring in the Netflix drama Grand Army, though she's no stranger to the horror genre, having starred in Hellraiser (2022). She also has the indie horror movie Hell House in development.

As for Rubin, you can catch her starring opposite Anne Hathaway...

Supermassive’s hit video game Until Dawn is headed to the big screen with a horror movie adaptation from director David F. Sandberg, and Deadline brings us the very first round of casting news this afternoon.

Ella Rubin (The Idea of You), Michael Cimino (“Never Have I Ever”), Ji-young Yoo (“Expats”) and Odessa A’zion (Hulu’s Hellraiser) will star in the upcoming horror film.

“At PlayStation Productions, we are always looking to find creative and authentic ways to adapt our beloved games that our fans will enjoy. Alongside Screen Gems, we’ve assembled a fantastic cast of new characters that builds upon our already stellar filmmaking team and their vision for the adaptation. We’re excited to reveal more about the movie soon,” Asad Qizilbash, Head of PlayStation Productions, Head of Product for PlayStation Studios, Sony Interactive Entertainment, said in a statement shared by Deadline today.

Blair Butler (The Invitation) wrote the original draft,...

Exclusive: Screen Gems and PlayStation Productions’ feature adaptation of the PlayStation game Until Dawn has set an ensemble of rising stars as Ella Rubin, Michael Cimino, Ji-young Yoo and Odessa A’zion have been cast in the upcoming pic. David F. Sandberg is set to direct.

“At PlayStation Productions, we are always looking to find creative and authentic ways to adapt our beloved games that our fans will enjoy,” said Asad Qizilbash, Head of PlayStation Productions, Head of Product for PlayStation Studios, Sony Interactive Entertainment. “Alongside Screen Gems, we’ve assembled a fantastic cast of new characters that builds upon our already stellar filmmaking team and their vision for the adaptation. We’re excited to reveal more about the movie soon.”

The logline is under wraps but the pic is being described as an R-rated and terrifying love letter to the horror genre, centering on an ensemble cast.

Gary Dauberman wrote...

Lulu Wang remembers Nicole Kidman spiraling down a psychological rabbit hole in Jonathan Glazer’s 2004 dream-like masterpiece Birth where a woman believes that a 10-year-old boy is the reincarnation of her dead husband. “That’s my favorite,” Wang declares, much to Kidman’s delight — and surprise. During the making of Prime Video’s Expats drama series, based on Janice Y.K. Lee’s second novel, The Expatriates published in early 2016, they both discovered that they had the same ‘get up and do it’ sensibility. As Kidman put it: “You’ve got to roll up your sleeves and do it.” Followed by a cry of “Don’t just sit there, let’s do it, let’s do it.” Wang says it’s “super rare” to meet someone like Kidman. “It feels pretty rare because there are a lot of people who talk about meeting more female directors. But I think that the evidence is in the resume.

Editor’s note: Deadline’s It Starts on the Page features standout limited or anthology series scripts in 2024 Emmy contention.

In Prime Video’s limited series Expats, based on the novel The Expatriates by Janice Y.K. Lee, creator Lulu Wang shines a light on an expatriate community in Hong Kong with a focus on three women, Margaret (Nicole Kidman), Hilary (Sarayu Blue), and Mercy (Ji-young Yoo), whose destinies are intertwined. Two of them, Margaret and Hilary, represent the expat experience where money is no object and nothing would get resolved at home without the aid of their domestic workers.

While showing the importance of their contributions, the nannies and housekeepers themselves are featured minimally throughout the first four episodes until they take center stage in the penultimate Episode 5, “Central,” dedicated entirely to their point of view. This is a different approach than a more traditional upstairs/downstairs perspective seen on series like Downtown Abbey.

With Emmy voting underway, Gold House has released its inaugural Gold List honoring Asian creatives in television.

This marks an expansion for the organization, which in the past has championed Asian excellence and creatives in film.

FX’s “Shōgun” dominated with wins for outstanding series, lead performance (Anna Sawai and Hiroyuki Sanada), directing and editing and received honorable mentions of supporting performances from Fumi Nikaido, Moeka Hoshi and Tadanobu Asano.

“Expats” and “The Sympathizer” both received the second-highest number of accolades. Other television shows and movies that were honored on the Gold List include “3 Body Problem,” “Invincible,” “Love in Taipei,” “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” “Under the Bridge” and “World’s Best.”

In a statement, star and producer of “Shōgun” Sanada said, “I am deeply honored to be selected in the inaugural TV Gold List for my role in ‘Shōgun.’ This recognition is particularly special as it marks the beginning of...

As the voting period for the 76th Emmys opened on Thursday, Gold House debuted its inaugural Gold List, intended to honor outstanding recent achievements in television by Asian creatives.

FX’s Shōgun dominated across categories, winning for Outstanding Series, Outstanding Lead Performance (Anna Sawai and Hiroyuki Sanada), Outstanding Directing, and Outstanding Writing, while at the same time receiving honorable mentions for the supporting performances of Fumi Nikaido, Moeka Hoshi, and Tadanobu Asano.

Other notable honorees included Prime Video’s Expats, HBO’s The Sympathizer, Netflix’s animated series Blue Eye Samurai, the 20th/Hulu comedy Quiz Lady, The Morning Show‘s Greta Lee, and SNL‘s Bowen Yang, with winners being voted on by Asian Pacific leaders in entertainment.

“Asian stories and talent have undeniably taken center stage this year, showcasing a remarkable breadth of narratives and performances that resonate across broad audiences,...

In Lulu Wang’s “Expats,” Sarayu Blue’s Hilary is seemingly perfect, put together and polished.

On the surface, the American expat Hilary presents herself as a control freak. From her surroundings to her makeup and neutral wardrobe, it’s all pristine. That facade slowly unravels as her layers are peeled back in the Prime Video six-part limited series. Behind closed doors, her marriage is falling apart, and her husband is cheating on her.

Costume designer Malgosia Turzanska used “aggressive neutrals” when it came to building Hilary’s wardrobe. Her goal was to use costumes as camouflage and protective armor for the character. “She is an incredibly strong, powerful woman. But she’s also an incredibly hurt woman, and that goes back to her childhood,” she says.

An asymmetrical David Koma jumpsuit, for example, is an outfit Turzanska wove into Hilary’s wardrobe for a dinner party scene that was...

Exclusive: Ji-young Yoo says she was thrown in at “the deep end of things“ when she shot Prime Video’s limited series Expats, playing the central figure of Mercy, a character around whom everyone else orbits.

“I was thrown in,” she says laughing. “But it’s really been a whole super swim,” she says of playing Mercy, a Columbia graduate, in the six-part series written and directed by Lulu Wang. Adapted from Janice Y.K Lee’s 2016 bestselling novel Expatriates, the series follows, from disparate points of view, the lives of three women who are part of the international community in Hong Kong, and who are drawn together following a heartbreaking tragedy.

Yoo’s first day on set in Hong Kong, with no prior rehearsal, had her shooting a huge key scene opposite Nicole Kidman, who plays Margaret, a landscape gardener who comes to know Mercy through tumultuous circumstances.

“Very, very intimidating,...

Baby Reindeer, Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Colin From Accounts were the top winners at the first-ever Gotham TV Awards, which took place in New York on Tuesday night.

Accepting for breakthrough limited series, the final award of the night, Baby Reindeer star and creator Richard Gadd offered a thoughtful observation about the Netflix show’s popularity and some advice for anyone going through a difficult time.

“It’s weird that a show as messed up as this has gone on to strike a chord with so many people,” Gadd said of darkly comic thriller. “I think it speaks to the fact that I think a lot of people in the world are struggling right now. I don’t know much in the way of advice, but I do know that nothing lasts forever. So if you are in a rut, just keep going. Persevere, persevere, persevere and I promise you things will get better.

“Baby Reindeer” was among the winners at the first-ever Gotham TV Awards on Tuesday evening, taking home the prize for breakthrough limited series.

“I never thought in a million years that this dark, weird, messed up show would have brought in this universal love that it’s received,” said Richard Gadd, the show’s creator and star, in his acceptance speech. He also thanked Netflix, his team and his mom and dad for “messing [him] up enough to make [him] an artist.”

Gadd went on to say, “It’s kind of weird also that a show as messed up as this has gone on to strike a chord with so many people. I think it speaks to the fact that a lot of people in the world are struggling right now. And I don’t know much in the way of advice, but I do know that nothing lasts forever. So if you are in a rut,...

On June 6, the 2024 IndieWire Honors ceremony will celebrate 13 creators and stars responsible for some of the most stellar work of the TV season. Curated and selected by IndieWire’s editorial team, the event is a new edition of previous IndieWire Honors ceremonies, this time focused entirely on television. We’re showcasing their work with new interviews leading up to the Los Angeles celebration.

Below, Janice Y.K. Lee — the author of “The Expatriates” and producer of its Prime Video adaptation, “Expats” — shares her admiration for writer, director, and showrunner Lulu Wang, who will receive the Crossover Award at IndieWire Honors.

Do you know Lulu Wang? Have you met her? You’d remember if you had. She’s five feet of pure determination and artistry, barely a hundred pounds of steely-eyed chili crisp, a writer’s writer, a director’s director, and a fierce warrior deceptively encased in the frame of an elegant porcelain-faced gamine.

On June 6, the 2024 IndieWire Honors ceremony will celebrate 13 creators and stars responsible for some of the most stellar work of the TV season. Curated and selected by IndieWire’s editorial team, the event is a new edition of previous IndieWire Honors ceremonies, this time focused entirely on television. We’re showcasing their work with new interviews leading up to the Los Angeles celebration.

“Expats,” the immense yet intimate six-part series from director and showrunner Lulu Wang, tells the story of three American women living in Hong Kong who become inextricably linked by tragedy. That loss, so harrowing it’s often kept vague in plot synopses, is the disappearance of a young boy. Left unattended in a crowded night market for a split second, Gus (Connor James) is just gone. There’s no indication if he’s been taken or he merely wandered off. His mother, Margaret (Nicole Kidman), is inconsolable.

“The end goal is always to get at the emotion,” declares “Expats” editor Matt Friedman. For our recent webchat he adds, “That’s really what I love about working with Lulu. Everything is so thought through and so smartly put together on just so many different levels. It’s like peeling an onion. It’s like there’s stuff under stuff, under stuff, under stuff, under stuff,” he says. “Are there other editorial things that we can do? Maybe sit in the shot a little bit longer in order to give the audience time to find the character themselves, whereas if you’re cutting in close, you don’t need as much time to find the character. We think about things like that, but the end goal is the emotion. Whenever I’m cutting anything, what I’m thinking about is, is this getting me to where I want the audience to be,...

When “Expats” showrunner and director Lulu Wang was penning the script for episode 4, she featured a scene where Hilary gets trapped in the elevator with her mother. But little did she know, actress Sarayu Blue was claustrophobic. “That’s my biggest fear,” Blue says.

Wang tells Variety‘s Awards Circuit Podcast that she learned about Blue’s unease when the production, which shot during Covid, was in quarantine. “She had to be stuck in a hotel, a glass box for 21 days, so there were a lot of conversations about the panic, and it was really challenging,” says Wang. “I thought, ‘Oh, that’s going to be fun because I’ve written a whole episode where she’s stuck in an elevator.”

On this episode, Wang and Blue discuss their Prime Video series, and the reactions they’ve received from fans and family. Before that, the Roundtable discusses what’s going on with “Shogun,...

Since The Last Update

With the May 31 Emmys eligibility cutoff almost exactly one month away, Emmys-related action is picking up.

On April 22, Ryan Seacrest, Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan came out for a screening and reception in Hollywood on behalf of ABC’s American Idol. Meanwhile, in New York, Peter Morgan, creator and principal writer of Netflix’s The Crown, was feted at the opening of his new Broadway play Patriots. And that same night, FX’s Shōgun had a well-received series — or season? — finale. (The following evening its lead actress, Anna Sawai, sat down with yours truly at Chapman University to record an episode of THR’s Awards Chatter podcast.)

On April 24, Max toasted the third season of Hacks (which debuts on May 2) with a party at the Chateau Marmont attended by the show’s creators and stars, including Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder. And at the same time,...

The stars and writer-director of the Prime Video limited series Expats sat down Sunday at the Deadline Studio at Prime Experience. Based on Janice Y.K. Lee’s bestselling novel of the same name, Expats revolves around the lives of a group of expatriates in Hong Kong — more specifically, it’s story of three women from different backgrounds linked by a tragic event, grief, loss and complicated family issues.

Appearing on our panel Sunday were star/executive producer Nicole Kidman, actors Ji-Young Yoo, Sarayu Blue, Jack Huston and Brian Tee, and creator/writer/director/executive producer Lulu Wang.

Watch the conversation here, and scroll down for a photo gallery of the event.

Kidman, who has become as prolific a producer through her Blossom Films as she is an actor, also just received the prestigious AFI Lifetime Achievement Award over the weekend, something celebrated by all her Expats colleagues as we began...

Spoilers: This article and video contain spoilers about “Expats” episodes.

“It really invigorated me as an artist” admits “Expats” star Brian Tee about his role on the Amazon Prime Video limited series. For our recent webchat he adds, “I had a deep connection to it immediately, because I myself personally have a daughter. I have an eight-year-old, and for anyone to lose one of their children is, you know, you wouldn’t wish it on your worst enemy.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.

See Exclusive Video Interview: Yong Ok Lee (‘Expats’ production designer)

“Expats” was created and directed by BAFTA nominee Lulu Wang (“The Farewell”), based on the 2016 novel “The Expatriates” by Janice Y. K. Lee. The six-episode drama revolves around three expatriate women and the people that orbit their lives. Oscar and Emmy winner Nicole Kidman stars as Margaret, an American expatriate living in Hong Kong when tragedy befalls her family.

“I don’t want to distract from the story, as my purpose is always to support the characters. But because we are showing Hong Kong a lot, I also wanted to make sure I show Hong Kong in the right perspective” explains production designer Yong Ok Lee about designing the sets for Amazon Prime Video’s limited series “Expats.” For our recent webchat the Korean designer adds, “I’m not Cantonese. I don’t know their culture,” noting that she “researched a lot of the background about Hong Kong politics, society and economy, but also I wanted to make sure that I can balance between an expat and a local perspective, because it’s not all about Hong Kong locals, it’s also about expats from their perspective.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.

See ‘Expats’ review round-up: Nicole Kidman is ‘mesmerizing’ in Prime Video’s new limited series

“Expats...

When actress-producer Nicole Kidman and filmmaker Lulu Wang set out to produce Expats, a miniseries adaptation of the novel The Expatriates, for Prime Video, they were committed to building both an acting ensemble and a writers room that would bolster the female-driven vision behind the project.

Speaking via satellite from Nashville, Kidman joined Wang and castmates Sarayu Blue and Ji-young Yoo at Deadline’s Contenders Television and revealed that she was immediately struck by the novel’s focus on its female characters and shined light on subjects that a diverse array of women face but receive little public discourse or attention.

“The themes of the show and the way in which it’s women, complicated women, but it’s very diverse and it’s very interesting and it’s very interconnected and the way we’re all interconnected. And I loved that it was a global show and that it was very,...

Deadline’s Contenders Television: Los Angeles, a veritable smörgåsbord of awards-worthy TV for your Emmy voting perusal, kicks off the second day of its two-day run Sunday morning at the DGA Theater in Los Angeles. The livestream begins at 9:35 a.m. Pt.

Click to sign up for and launch Sunday’s livestream.

Deadline’s annual TV awards-season kickoff continues today with its showcase that by end will encompass panels featuring 20 networks and streamers spotlighting 35 shows, ranging from drama and action to documentaries, comedies, unscripted and late-night.

It follows Saturday’s event packed to the rafters with industry and guild voters hearing from the likes of Jodie Foster, Lily Gladstone, Kurt Russell, Tom Hiddleston, Jeff Probst, Kelsey Grammer, Tony Shalhoub and more discussing their buzzy shows.

Click to read Deadline’s Contenders magazine

Overall for the weekend, Apple TV+ is bringing a whopping seven shows: Masters of the Air, Lessons in Chemistry,...

Prime Video is gearing up for a strong Emmy push with Lulu Wang’s emotionally charged and intricately crafted miniseries “Expats.”

It was revealed exclusively to Variety that stars Nicole Kidman and Ji-young Yoo will be submitted for lead acting accolades, while Sarayu Blue and Ruby Ruiz will aim for supporting roles. Altogether, “Expats” will vie for 24 Primetime Emmy nominations, including outstanding limited or anthology series.

Set against the vibrant backdrop of Hong Kong, and adapted from the novel by Janice Y.K. Lee, “Expats” delves into the lives of a close-knit group of expatriates, navigating their affluent, yet complex world. The narrative centers around the mysterious disappearance of Margaret’s (Kidman) son during a market visit, intertwining the lives of three American women amidst the 2014 Umbrella Movement protests.

Read: All Primetime Emmy predictions in every category on Variety’s Awards Circuit.

Lulu Wang, the creator, writer and director of the...

Updated, April 10: Additional top talent has been confirmed for Deadline’s Contenders Television, which will take place this weekend, April 13-14, at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles. Full details for the event, which can also be livestreamed, and an RSVP link can be found here here.

The new names added to the lineup include Jodie Foster, Kurt Russell, Quinta Brunson, Owen Wilson, Tyler James Williams, William Stanford Davis, Chris Perfetti, Aaron Moten and Ella Purnell.

They join previously announced roster that includes Tom Hiddleston, Nicole Kidman, Brie Larson, Kristen Wiig, Rebecca Ferguson, Lily Gladstone, Maya Rudolph, David Oyelowo, Common, Jimmy Fallon, Giancarlo Esposito, Joey King, Andrea Riseborough, Sebastian Maniscalco, Bill Pullman, Kiefer Sutherland, Logan Lerman, Kelsey Grammer, Matt Bomer, Tim Robbins, Josh Lucas, Jonathan Bailey, Tony Shalhoub, Maya Erskine, Nathan Fielder, Skeet Ulrich, Jeff Probst, Omar J. Dorsey, Harriet Dyer, Patrick Brammall, Sophia Di Martino, Sarayu Blue,...

So many stars graced the red carpet outside Bar Marmont on Wednesday night (March 6) to attend Vanity Fair and Instagram Celebrate Vanities: A Night for Young Hollywood.

The celebrity packed guestlist featured the likes of Barry Keoghan, Hunter Schafer and Charles Melton. That’s barely scratching the surface, though.

We pulled together photos of more than 100 stars on the guestlist. That way you can easily see who was there and what they were wearing!

Head inside to see all of the photos from Vanity Fair and Instagram Celebrate Vanities: A Night for Young Hollywood…

Keep scrolling to see all of the photos from Vanity Fair and Instagram Celebrate Vanities: A Night for Young Hollywood…

Barry Keoghan

Fyi: Barry is wearing Amiri FW24 Rtw.

Hunter Schafer

Fyi: Hunter is wearing Prada SS13 Rtw.

Evan Ross Katz

Aria Mia Loberti

Reece Feldman

Derek Luh

Sammi Hanratty

Asa Germann

Dallas James Liu

Charles...

Hello, and welcome to the Scene 2 Seen Podcast!

I am Valerie Complex, an associate editor and film writer at Deadline. Today I’m chatting with Ji-young Yoo, who has some anticipated performances on the horizon. It’s no wonder Variety named her one of the 10 Actors to Watch for 2023.

Ji-Young stars as a co-lead in the six-part limited series Expats, which is based on the Janice Y.K. Lee’s international best-selling novel, The Expatriates. Directed by Lulu Wang (The Farewell), the series also stars Nicole Kidman and Sarayu Blue. Set in Hong Kong 2014, the story centers on three American women – Margaret Mercy and Hilary – whose lives intersect after a sudden tragedy. The series made its debut at the 2023 Toronto Film Festival and was released on Prime Video in January.

The actress attended Sundance 2024 for the premiere of the immersive film Freaky Tales alongside Pedro Pascal and Jay Ellis. From Captain Marvel...

Spoiler Alert: The following reveals major plot points from the Prime Video limited series Expats including the finale.

Lulu Wang’s Expats, an adaptation of Janice Y. K. Lee’s novel The Expatriates, concluded its 6-episode run on Friday with the episode aptly titled “Home.” What is home exactly?

The limited series takes viewers on a journey with three central female characters—Margaret Woo (Nicole Kidman), Hilary Starr (Sarayu Blue) and Mercy Cho (Ji-young Yoo)—whose lives become intertwined while they’re expatriates living in Hong Kong.

On the surface, life appears blessed and busy for Americans Margaret and Hilary, two married professionals who require the assistance of one or more helpers to keep their lives running and looking perfect from the outside.

Margaret is married to Clarke (Brian Tee) who is trying to make his way up the corporate ladder while helping to raise their three children: Daisy (Tiana Gowen...

Spoiler Alert: This interview contains spoilers for “Home” the series finale of “Expats,” now streaming on Prime Video.

“Keep on living” is the theme of the series finale of Lulu Wang’s “Expats.”

It wraps up the grief, loss and pain Margaret (Nicole Kidman), Mercy (Ji-Young Yoo) and Hilary (Sarayu Blue) have been experiencing throughout. In the final episode of “Expats,” Wang seeks to show how the women at the center of the story move forward and find peace and resolution in their lives.

Margaret and her family are planning to move back to America after dealing with the disappearance of their young son, Gus. Before that, she takes time to meet with both Mercy and Hilary at a coffee shop trying to put the past behind her so she can move on.

Meanwhile, Mercy is grappling with her unexpected pregnancy caused by her affair with Hilary’s husband David...